After three long semesters of online learning, the return to in-person courses is nothing short of exciting. However, before this return, many students are capping off their online learning with virtual internships this summer. While students have learned to adapt to remote learning over the past three semesters, working remotely requires an entirely different skill set.
From communicating with co-workers to participating in team meetings, students must not only learn workplace etiquette, but they must do so without ever setting foot in the workplace itself.
For Val Pacheco (23C), this summer has consisted of a fourth virtual semester. Only this time, she was the one teaching.
As a teaching fellow for Breakthrough Houston,
an educational program that helps underserved students prepare for college, Pacheco has become an eighth-grade literature teacher for a virtual class of ten middle-schoolers. Before starting the program, Pacheco reflected on her own remote learning experience so she could apply her feedback to her own classroom.
“One thing that I took from virtual learning [was that] I really didn't like being talked at for a whole hour,” Pacheco said. “So I always try to give my students options.”
Instead, Pacheco alternates between having students speak, communicate through the chat or private message her. By providing these options, Pacheco aims to create a comfortable space for her students to think, she said.
Despite the virtual nature of the internship, Pacheco has enjoyed teaching, and her experience has confirmed her aspirations of helping others, even though she was initially hesitant to work with middle-schoolers.
“I think that it has really shown me that I like to teach, no matter the age group,” Pacheco said. “Although I don't know if I would directly want to go into teaching, or become a
teacher, I do quite like working with people through their problems.”
Like Pacheco, Ama Ofosu (23B) has also gained clarity on her desired career path through her virtual internship. Ofosu is interning at ViacomCBS in the Office of Global Inclusion, which aims to increase diversity on screen and in their corporate office.
Although Ofosu would have rather spent the summer at Viacom’s office in New York City, she also acknowledged the extra flexibility that working remotely has given her.
“Being able to work from home, I have more control over my schedule,” Ofosu said.
Since Ofosu is concentrating in film and media management at the Goizueta Business School, her internship has allowed her to experience what working in her field of study would be like.
“This internship has really helped me see what goes behind the scenes of running a huge media company like Viacom,” Ofosu said. “My department works with other departments throughout the company, so I get to see how different parts work together, so that has been an interesting learning experience.”
Viacom is not the only company that has had to run its summer internship program virtually this year because of its large size. Daryl Nana (22B) feels his virtual marketing internship with Bank of America lacks the daily excitement that in-person internships provide.
“We kind of fall in love with, you know, that suit and tie, walking into a city, holding a briefcase, looking to your left and right with coffee [in] your left hand,” Nana said. “So yes, we're missing out on that, but overall in terms of opportunities, I actually think I'm able to gain more through a remote format than before.”
Nana noted that his internship has been a valuable networking opportunity, even if the typical communication methods have changed.
“Networking and interactions have kind of been a little bit more robotic,” Nana said. “A little bit more strategic than they’ve ever been.”
While Nana might only be meeting his co-workers and fellow interns virtually in a strictly scheduled manner, the wide reach of the initiatives he has been working on has made up for the lack of in-person interaction.
“I love the idea that my work is going to touch somebody in a different country, or my work is going to touch somebody in a different state,” Nana said.
Learning and working remotely has not been ideal by any means. Even so, the flexibility that working from home provides has granted students free time that they would not have otherwise had, allowing them to pursue their hobbies and personal interests.
“I think people are just working towards themselves for the first time in a long time,” Nana said. “And I think remote work has allowed people to do that.”
